UN officials have renewed their call for a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure polio vaccines can reach children in Gaza, after the first case of polio was reported in the territory earlier this month.

“We are surrounded by massive destruction” in Gaza, Louisa Baxter, head of operations for Save the Children’s health emergency unit, told the UN Security Council on Thursday, adding that “more than 1.9 million people are displaced and moving through streets filled with rubble, garbage and sewage.”

"Polio is spreading in Gaza and will not wait at the inspection gate at the Kerem Shalom crossing or the customs office at Ben Gurion Airport," she added.

In her speech to the Council, Baxter stated that this disease poses a threat to children everywhere, and that without “immediate preventive measures,” the outbreak of the disease in Gaza will hinder efforts to eradicate the disease globally.

She pointed out that polio can be prevented by vaccination, but vaccination services have collapsed over the past ten months, 750 health workers have been killed since last October, and only a quarter of the number of hospitals that were previously operating are currently operating.

She also said that “this devastated health system is not prepared to face a new polio crisis at all” and called for two continuous cessations of hostilities, of at least one week each, “to begin immediately.”

International relief organizations and health workers called in a joint statement the day before yesterday for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to enable the delivery of polio vaccines.

These organizations stressed the need to deliver polio vaccines to Gaza as soon as possible, according to the statement issued by 20 international relief organizations and health workers, including Save the Children, ActionAid and Oxfam.

She pointed out that at least 50,000 children were born during the Israeli attacks on Gaza, and that "their chances of vaccination are low" due to the collapse of the health system.

She explained that "the re-emergence of the polio virus in Gaza is a direct result of the destruction of the water and sanitation infrastructure and the restrictions imposed by the Israeli government."

The virus was first detected in sewage water last July, while last week the first case of polio in the Gaza Strip was announced, in a 10-month-old girl in Deir al-Balah.

Continued Israeli bombardment and high temperatures complicate polio vaccination plans in the Gaza Strip.

The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) say they have detailed plans to vaccinate 640,000 children across Gaza starting at the end of this month.

“It is very difficult to carry out a vaccination campaign of this size under skies full of airstrikes,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Last Monday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed his concern about the outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip, and said that his country is working with the Israeli government to develop a plan to vaccinate against the disease.

Speaking to reporters in Israel, Blinken said he believes his country and Israel will be able to move forward with the plan in the coming weeks.

In severe cases, polio can lead to paralysis and eventually death, especially among young children. The virus is often spread through contaminated water, and there is currently no cure.